Northeast Georgia Locally Grown:  Locally Grown - Availability for October 29th, 2013

Hey Local Food Lovers,

One of the coolest things about getting involved in local foods is how INVOLVED you can become in local foods. For example, quite a few of our customers in Locally Grown have also become volunteers over the last few years. You may have noticed that during market pickup we have many different faces that are willing to help you and help our farmers by volunteering an hour or two to help distribute food. In the process they often learn a lot about the different farms, which foods are in season, and get a very small food stipend so they can always be sure and eat up and enjoy some of good food being offered from week to week. WE COULDN’T run this MARKET without these good souls! Be sure and tell them how much you appreciate their efforts and their knowledge.

We also have over 20 volunteers that help us with the annual farm tour. This is a great way for folks to get to know at least one of the farms that grows food in our region, and establish a friendship with a farmer or two. This is why most of us enjoy local foods so much, its so much more than just good food, it’s a relationship with the people and places that produce it, and a sense of community.

One of the cooler things about an internet farmers market is the barriers to entry can be slightly less intimidating for someone who wants to become a new producer. I’ll use myself as an example. Even though I’d grown a garden for years, it wasn’t until we had begun Locally Grown (back in 2010) that I realized, why not grow a little more food and share it with people through the market. I can’t recall now what I grew that very first year, but I can remember the joy and excitement of getting my first orders, harvesting from the field the very best of my crops so that they would look crisp and delicious in the bags, figuring out how to optimize their appearance so that a customer was just thrilled when they opened the bag and smelled the fresh food within.

Locally Grown is just at its very beginnings in our region. And we need more growers and customers. We plan to grow more of both this year with the help of some marketing resources.

Fresh Local Foods and people that are knowledgable about fresh local foods don’t just appear over night. Like anything else they have to be cultivated over time, giving time for trial and error. We often have small new farms start out with just a few products, then as they gain skill and confidence and find a few niches for products that are in short supply, they grow a little more, and become a fixture in our community of farmers. This has happened many times just in the last four years, and we look forward to it happening again.

Another thing that happens is customers will sometimes become producers. This week at the Clarkesville Location we have a FEATURED PRODUCER – Leslie Montemayor of Leslie’s Garden Dream. This is the second week we’ve asked Leslie to set up DURING MARKET and share her products and her experience and knowledge with healthful and local foods. She gave a demonstration at Tiger several weeks ago, and this week she’ll be at her home market in Clarkesville where she’s been a customer since the very beginning.

Leslie was inspired to share a few items with the market, and that list has recently expanded. She is the only person we know who grows luffa gourds (or loofah), which are dried to make luffa sponges for bathing or cleaning. I keep a luffa sponge sitting on my sink at all times for scrubbing those pans that need a little extra elbow grease, these make it easy. She also sells the seeds if you’re motivated to try and grow these yourself, and I’m sure she’ll tell you how to dry the gourds for use as well.

Leslie also makes healthy dog treats out of oat and rice flour, chicken liver from locally grown organic chickens, cheese, and locally grown eggs. Recently she added some good looking breads and cakes using organic ingredients too. I look forward to sinking my teeth into either her apple cake or sweet potato bread this Wednesday.

Locally Grown benefits from efforts to slowly but steadily replace our grocery store diets with Locally Grown and Locally Made foods. We try to be very cautious not to over emphasize processed food (even if they are made with more wholesome ingredients) or non-food products on the market. Locally Grown is obviously primarily about Locally Grown foods! This market more than anything is for the farmers, to help them access customers that want fresh, farm grown fruits and veggies, and meats. But as we grow, we’d love to see more people decide, “I have something to contribute. I’m going to go out and learn how to grow WASABI root because no one else is growing that.” Blurring the lines between who are producers and who are consumers is a healthy thing. Give yourself time to become really good at it before you try and unleash your gifts on the general public, but we welcome such efforts….as long as LOCAL products and sustainability is at the core of your efforts.

We hope you enjoy our featured producer this week. We hope to get a calendar of other featured farmers and producers going for 2015. That way you can meet some of the good folks that are filling your tummies.

Thanks for shopping and …..

EAT WELL,
Justin, Chuck, Teri and Andrew

Heirloom Living Market Lawrenceville :  There is Still Time to Order..

Market Closes at 6:00pm Today!

Be sure and check out the offerings of Water Buffalo from Carrell Farm. A roast would be wonderful with this cool Fall weather!

Dabrielle of My Daily Bread has Blueberry Jam and Pear Preserves listed on the Weekly Specials and they are always a treat! It is Fall and who doesn’t like a good cup of Tea with Spelt Pumpkin Muffins or Apple Bread? Yum!

Fry Farm does not list any offerings this week as Vicky and Steve’s ‘grands’, their daughter and her husband are here visiting from their Mission in England. They will be back strong next week!

Doug’s Garden is seeing an increase in his harvests, so check out his offerings and be sure and peruse the Farmers’ Sale Table to see what is available on Market Day!

Peacefield Farm has added Radishes and Dried Tomatoes to their offerings!

The Veggie Patch always has a good variety of veggies and lots of peppers from mild to VERY hot! CHeck out the “Red” carrots!

Ricky of Back River Farm has Arugula, 2 varieties of Flavorburst Peppers and Eggplant.

Grow With the Flow is offering several different kinds of Kale as well as a Gourmet Lettuce Mix.

I spoke with Lynda of B & G and she informs me that she will be re-stocked with whole chickens and parts in 2 weeks. She still has Beef and Pork listed!

Marie of Bakery on Brooks has been sick and I am requesting prayers for her quick recovery!

Oglethorpe Fresh Locally Grown:  This Week's Market

We Have Sweet Potato and fresh mixed greens coming in coming from our growers.

Quick reminder to our Oglethorpe Locally Grown Friends: market opened at 6:00 Sunday,October 26 for Wednesday, October 29 pick-up. Wednesday pick-up days are quite lively from 4-7 p.m. with extras from the growers, meet a grower and check out the rest of all that is Oglethorpe Fresh, 111 South Platt Street. First 100 customers $15 annual membership waived. Tell a friend and We hope to see you there

Heirloom Living Market Lilburn:  There is still time to order...

Market Closes at 6:00pm Today!

Be sure and check out the offerings of Water Buffalo from Carrell Farm. A roast would be wonderful with this cool Fall weather!

Dabrielle of My Daily Bread has Blueberry Jam and Pear Preserves listed on the Weekly Specials and they are always a treat! It is Fall and who doesn’t like a good cup of Tea with Spelt Pumpkin Muffins or Apple Bread? Yum!

Fry Farm does not list any offerings this week as Vicky and Steve’s ‘grands’, their daughter and her husband are here visiting from their Mission in England. They will be back strong next week!

Doug’s Garden is seeing an increase in his harvests, so check out his offerings and be sure and peruse the Farmers’ Sale Table to see what is available on Market Day!

Peacefield Farm has added Radishes and Dried Tomatoes to their offerings!

The Veggie Patch always has a good variety of veggies and lots of peppers from mild to VERY hot! CHeck out the “Red” carrots!

Ricky of Back River Farm has Arugula, 2 varieties of Flavorburst Peppers and Eggplant.

Grow With the Flow is offering several different kinds of Kale as well as a Gourmet Lettuce Mix.

I spoke with Lynda of B & G and she informs me that she will be re-stocked with whole chickens and parts in 2 weeks. She still has Beef and Pork listed!

Marie of Bakery on Brooks has been sick and I am requesting prayers for her quick recovery!

Thank you for your support!

See you at Market on Thursday!

Martin's Farmstand:  Oct 27

Summer hours (10 am-6 pm Mon-Sat) will be ending on Saturday November 15th. In the meantime you will still find a wonderful spread of late fall vegetables at the stand and on the website.
In the next few weeks we will fill the coolers and cellers with all the bounty that is still in the fields. This will be available throughout the winter, on our website, at the Potsdam Coop, and at our house on a call ahead or ring the doorbell basis. We will start a more relaxed lifestyle. There are some things that I like about winter. Daniel

Princeton Farm Fresh:  The Market is Open

When I was still dreaming of being a farmer I read a DK (Dorling Kindersley) book entitled “Country Life, A Handbook for Realist and Dreamers” I read that book from cover to cover, which was easy because it was full of pictures and drawings of how to run a farm. One of the things I found so interesting was how many things you could grow on as little as a tenth of an acre. They called it a Garden Farm and within its small confines they grew not only a sizeable garden, but pigs, chickens, bees, ducks and a sizeable compost pile. I will post a picture on our Facebook page today so you can see all the great ideas for small scale farming. Within this book my dreams became a reality. I started right in our own tenth of an acre subdivision with raised beds (Fourteen 4×8 ft beds), chickens and ducks. I could only dream of having a farm one day, but I started where I was. I hope that if you have a dream of farming that you too, will start right where you are today. Start small, see if you like it, and grow with your dreams.
See you all on Friday,
Angela

South Cumberland Food Hub:  Time to Order Local Food!

Good Morning from the South Cumberland Food Hub. It’s time to order your local food. We’re open till noon. Have a great day!

Click here to go directly to the Rootedhere Locally Grown Market Page

Risa

Tullahoma Locally Grown:  Weblog Entry

Good morning!
Sitting here with my Fuel So Good Sumatra Coffee, looking at the goods to offer this week.

It’s not too late to order your locally grown jack-o-lantern pumpkin!

Fuel So Good/Karma Bakeria has scones, banana chocolate chip muffins and mini bundt cakes on the market.
And the time is nigh for Healthy Harvest Breads’ Pumpkin Bread!

And I had to share this recipe since I know so many Tullahomians are Chick-fil-a fans. This recipe looks awesome and I know many of you are gluten free. (the secret is the pickle juice brining)
Gluten, Grain, and Garbage Free Chick-Fil-A Nuggets

(Fox Farm has delicious lard, and Fountain Springs has chicken breasts on our market, and I think if you didn’t have pickle juice you could sub a salt water with mustard seeds and dill)

Get started here: Tullahoma Locally Grown Market

The Market closes Noon on Wednesday, what’s in your fridge?!

Madison GA:  The market is open!!!!

See everyone Wed!!

Atlanta Locally Grown:  Available for Saturday November 1

I hope this finds you all doing well. Trick or treat time is here already. Wow, time flies when you are having fun. We have lots of mushrooms this week along with a few other garden goodies. Order up and enjoy the best fresh produce around. This is also our final week for the hog reservation. Once we have them processed the price will be increased to cover the added cost. Early reservations help cover that expense so I can pass along the savings but when I foot the cost I have to include it. The hogs will be delivered on Tuesday. Your hog share will be ready for pickup on November 8th.

Thank you for all your support and please remember to share us with a friend. We will see you on Saturday at your selected delivery location.

Thanks again,
Brady